The Elson Readers, Book 5
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William H. Elson and Christine M. Keck >> The Elson Readers, Book 5
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Phrases for Study
aspiring genius, like a Turk, riveted his attention, knights of old,
Daedalus of yore, thus accoutered, man's dominion, plagued the realm,
navigate the azure, his proper sphere, beat us holler, stick to your
sphere.
BIRTHDAY GREETINGS C. L. DODGSON ("Lewis Carroll") Christ Church,
Oxford October 13, 1875
My Dear Gertrude:
I never give birthday presents, but you see I do sometimes write a
birthday letter; so, as I've just arrived here, I am writing this to
wish you many and many a happy return of your birthday tomorrow. I
will drink your health, if only I can remember, and if you don't
mind--but perhaps you object? You see, if I were to sit by you at
breakfast, and to drink your tea, you wouldn't like that, would you?
You would say "Boo! hoo! Here's Mr. Dodgson's drunk all my tea, and I
haven't any left!" So I am very much afraid, next time Sybil looks for
you, she'll find you sitting by the sad sea-wave, and crying "Boo!
hoo! Here's Mr. Dodgson has drunk my health, and I haven't got any
left!" And how it will puzzle Dr. Maund, when he is sent for to see
you! "My dear Madam, I'm very sorry to say your little girl has got no
health at all! I never saw such a thing in my life!" "Oh, I can easily
explain it!" your mother will say. "You see she would go and make
friends with a strange gentleman, and yesterday he drank her health!"
"Well, Mrs. Chataway," he will say, "the only way to cure her is to
wait till his next birthday, and then for her to drink his health."
And then we shall have changed healths. I wonder how you'll like mine!
Oh, Gertrude, I wish you wouldn't talk such nonsense!
Your loving friend,
LEWIS CARROLL
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), better known by his
pen name, "Lewis Carroll," was an English author. He was the son of
a clergyman. For four years he attended the famous school at Rugby,
after which he entered college at Oxford. He became an excellent
scholar and mathematician and was appointed a lecturer on mathematics
at Oxford University, a position that he held for many years. His keen
sympathy with the imagination of children and their sense of fun led
him to tell of the adventures of Alice, in a book called Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland. This book made Lewis Carroll's name famous.
His delightful humor is well illustrated in his letter of "Birthday
Greetings" to Gertrude Chataway.
Discussion. 1. What is usually meant by "drink your health"? 2. What
play on the meaning of these words gives a humorous turn to them? 3.
What remedy does the author suggest the doctor will prescribe for
Gertrude? 4. What does the author call this humor? 5. The author was
a serious man, yet he believed in the value of wholesome fun; of what
great poet did you read, on page 57, who also believed in the value of
a hearty laugh?
Phrases for Study
many a happy return, sad sea-wave.
THE WIND AND THE MOON
GEORGE MACDONALD
Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out.
You stare in the air
Like a ghost in a chair,
Always looking what I am about.
I hate to be watched; I will blow you out."
The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.
So, deep on a heap
Of clouds, to sleep
Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon--
Muttering low. "I've done for that Moon."
He turned in his bed; she was there again.
On high in the sky,
With her one ghost eye,
The Moon shone white and alive and plain.
Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."
The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.
"With my sledge and my wedge
I have knocked off her edge.
If only I blow right fierce and grim,
The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."
He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.
"One puff more's enough
To blow her to snuff!
One good puff more where the last was bred,
And glimmer, glimmer glum will go the thread."
He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone;
In the air nowhere
Was a moonbeam bare;
Far off and harmless the shy stars shone;
Sure and certain the Moon was gone!
The Wind he took to his revels once more:
On down, in town,
Like a merry-mad clown,
He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar--
"What's that?" The glimmering thread once more.
He flew in a rage--he danced and blew;
But in vain was the pain
Of his bursting brain;
For still the broader the moon-scrap grew,
The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.
Slowly she grew--till she filled the night,
And shone on her throne
In the sky alone,
A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,
Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.
Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I
With my breath, good faith,
I blew her to death--
First blew her away right out of the sky--
Then blew her in; what a strength am I!"
But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair,
For, high in the sky,
With her one white eye,
Motionless, miles above the air,
She had never heard the great Wind blare.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. George Macdonald (1824-1905), a Scotch poet, wrote many
entertaining poems and stories for children. "The Wind and the Moon"
is a good illustration of the fact that he knew how to interest boys
and girls.
Discussion. 1. Why did the wind want to blow out the moon? 2. What
natural changes in the shape of the moon take place each month? 3.
What really caused it to disappear? 4. What did the wind do when he
thought he had succeeded? 5. Find the lines that tell how the wind
felt when he saw the moon grow broader and bigger. 6. Find the lines
which tell that the moon did not know that the wind was blowing. 7.
What qualities does this story give to the wind? 8. Do you know any
person who has these qualities? 9. The poet aims in this poem to
amuse us; by what means does he do this? 10. Find in the Glossary the
meaning of: muttering; sledge; wedge; grim; matchless; blare. 11.
Pronounce: revels; hallooed; radiant.
Phrases for Study
thinned to a thread, took to his revels, where the last was bred,
filled the night.
STORIES IN LIGHTER VEIN
A BACKWARD LOOK
Why is it good for us, even in the midst of serious work, to read
humorous stories from time to time? An interesting anecdote is told of
Abraham Lincoln that shows how he would have answered this question.
One day when the Civil War was at its height, President Lincoln opened
his cabinet meeting by saying, "Gentlemen, I am going to read you
something that will make you laugh." He then read a chapter from a
humorous book, laughing heartily as he read. When he saw that none
of the members of his cabinet joined in the laughter, he said with a
sigh, "Gentlemen, why don't you laugh? With the fearful strain that is
put on me day and night, if I did not laugh once in a while I should
die; and you need this medicine as much as I do," What did you read
in the Forward Look on page 57 about another serious-minded man who
believed that wholesome humor is a "medicine"?
Which selection in this group gave you the heartiest laugh? Often
some sensible truth is taught through a little nonsense; of which
selections is this particularly true? It is interesting to stop for a
moment and think just why certain stories make us laugh. One story is
humorous because of its wild exaggeration; another because it makes us
see how ridiculous it is to be a boaster or to be conceited or to jump
at conclusions; and still another because it has an interesting little
play upon words. What is the source of humor in "The Savage Boar"; "A
Narrow Escape"; "How the Baron Saved Gibraltar"; "The Blind Men and
the Elephant"; "Birthday Greetings"; "The Wind and the Moon"?
How does the present-day newspaper furnish fun for its readers? Which
newspaper cartoons do you look at regularly, and which are your
favorites? Bring to class examples of cartoons, and then divide the
collection into three groups--those that you think drive home a truth;
those that you think are funny and clever; and those that you think
are merely silly. Prepare an exhibit for "Cartoon Day" in your school,
selecting the material from these examples. Clip and bring to class
newspaper jokes that you and your family particularly enjoyed.
Recommend to your classmates humorous stories that you have read in
The Junior Red Cross News, Life, St. Nicholas, The Youth's Companion,
or in some other magazine.
In previous pages you have found occasional suggestions for problems
similar to those of the preceding paragraph. Like suggestions will
be found later in the book. The working out of these problems and
reporting on them in class will add greatly to the value and pleasure
of your reading.
Some of these suggested problems are: (a) Silent Reading--Making a
report showing comparisons month by month of individual and class
progress in silent reading; (b) Books I Have Read--Reviewing a
favorite book, giving title, author, time and scene of story,
principal characters, and a brief outline of the story, with readings
of the selected passages that will give your classmates most pleasure;
(c) Magazine Reading--Reporting monthly on current numbers of
magazines, telling your classmates what you have found that is
interesting; in this way you will help each other to become acquainted
with a number of magazines; (d) Newspaper Reading--Reporting current
events, and showing in the newspapers that you read the place of
general news, of editorials, society news, sports, the joke column,
cartoons, advertisements, etc.; (e) Dramatizing--Planning and
presenting before your class some selection or some incident from
a selection that you think will make an interesting play; (f) Good
Citizenship--Making a list of the suggestions you find in this Reader
that help you to be a useful home-member and a good citizen, and
preparing a program from selections in this book for "Citizenship Day"
in your school.
Which of the problems that you have worked out did you find most
interesting?
HOME AND COUNTRY
A Forward Look
One of the most famous stories in American literature tells about a
man who spoke of his country with sneers and insults and acted in such
a way that he was forbidden ever to set foot on American soil again.
So he became a wanderer. He saw how men from other countries looked
upon their homelands with pride and affection, and how his countrymen
loved America better even than their lives. He came to be known as
"the man without a country," and he lived a wretched and lonely life.
At last he came to the hour of death, and he wrote these words for all
Americans to think about if the temptation should ever come to speak
scornfully of their country:
"If you are ever tempted to say a word or to do a thing that shall put
a bar between you and your country, pray God in his mercy to take you
that instant home to his own heaven. Stick by your family, boy; forget
you have a self, while you do everything for them. Think of your home,
boy; write and send, and talk about it. Let it be nearer and nearer to
your thoughts, the farther you have to travel from it; and rush back
to it when you are free. And for your country, boy"--and the words
rattled in his throat--"and for that flag"--and he pointed to the
ship--"never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though
the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens
to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses you, never look to
another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that
flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to do with,
behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the Country
Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong to
your mother. Stand by Her, boy, as you would stand by your mother."
Such was the dying message of "the man without a country" to the
Americans of his time; such is his message to us. When we were at
war, it was to be expected that all men would answer the call of
patriotism. But now that peace has come, it is not so easy to forget
self in a loyalty to our country and its flag. It is easy to be on
guard when we know that an armed enemy is close by; it is not easy
when the enemy is hidden, and the guns are silent. These hidden
enemies of our country do not fight in armies; they are the bad
citizens who are scattered about; often you do not realize who they
are.
Generally these bad citizens, who are enemies of our country, possess
one or all of the following characteristics:
In the first place, they have no love for home and its festivals. Now,
our nation is a collection of homes. The government was formed to
protect these homes. The good citizen is a lover of his native soil,
a lover of his home, a lover of Thanksgiving and Independence Day and
Christmas. These festivals bind men more closely together, make them
one, join them to their native land. But there are many bad citizens,
enemies of America, who seek to destroy these influences that lead
men to work together to make the community a better place in which to
live.
Second, the history of the United States, the stories of the founding
of our nation, the stories about our flag and its defenders, have no
interest for these bad citizens. You remember how mother used to tell
you stories about when she was a little girl, and how these stories
made you love her the more. It is the same with the stories about
the days when our country was young: how the young George Washington
showed the kind of man he was, or how the young Abraham Lincoln
struggled to fit himself to become a leader of men. Through these
stories we learn what the flag really means and what it has cost, and
we love our country as we love our mother. But the enemy, the bad
citizen, laughs at these things. He just thinks of himself. He thinks
he has a right to do as he likes because this is, he says, "a free
country." He doesn't think that he owes anything to Washington and
Jefferson and Lincoln, or to those who kept the flag at the masthead
when it was in peril.
And the third test of a man's loyalty to our country is met only if
he has the true feeling of democracy in his heart. This feeling of
democracy means service, willingness to help others. The man or woman
who thinks only of his own good time or his own fortune is a bad
citizen.
You see, it is this way. In olden times men had no part in the
government unless they were born into a high place in society. The
ordinary man did as he was told, went to the wars at the king's
pleasure, and paid taxes that often took all he could save. He had
little opportunity to make money or collect property. If he did, very
probably the king would hear of it and would take away from him all
that he had saved. But America was founded with a different idea of
these matters. Here men got together and set up the kind of government
they wished. They taxed themselves in order to support this
government. They worked together to drive away hostile Indians, to
kill wild beasts, to conquer the forests, to plant their crops, to
make their lives safe and happy. In this cooperation, or working
together, in government and in all the ways of living we find the
spirit of democracy.
This spirit has made America what it is today. It has opened up farms,
built railways and ships and great industries, built also mighty
cities, and made laws for the protection of property and life. All
this men have done through the cooperation that means democracy.
If any man thinks that this freedom gives him the right to trample on
others, he is no better than one of the wicked kings of former times.
If he thinks that under this freedom he may devote himself wholly to
the selfish gain of wealth without giving a share of his money, his
time, and his skill to making his community a better place to live
in and his nation stronger and more secure, he cheats his fellows,
because he takes, without making any return, the blessings that the
founders and defenders of the Republic established with their lives.
In the old stories the youth who was ready to be made a knight had to
do certain things. He had to take the vow of knighthood, that he would
lead a pure and blameless life. He had to render a service to someone
in distress. And he had to watch, his arms beside him, through a
night.
You boys and girls, lovers of America, her defenders if need be, her
guardians in the years to come, must also watch by your arms. These
arms are not guns and bayonets; they belong to your heart and mind.
They are three in number: the love of home, the inheritance of
freedom, and the will to work with others. The first is a foundation
to make strong your heart; the second is a bulwark to make safe your
life; the third is a sword wherewith to slay the enemies of the
Republic.
This foundation in the love of home, this bulwark of our inheritance
of freedom, and this sword of unselfish service are subjects often
dealt with by great writers. In the pages that follow you will find
pieces selected in order to bring out these ideas. You should read
each of these selections not only for itself but also as a member of
the group to which it belongs; and you should try to get the central
idea that unites all the pieces that make up the group. Thus, little
by little, you will come to see how your joy in Thanksgiving, the
thrill that Old Glory can give you, and the service that you can
render to someone else, are all related to each other. To defend home
and country by being a good citizen is to be your mission in life. It
is more important than a successful career, or than great personal
happiness. For both your career and your happiness will depend upon
the way in which you, and the other boys and girls of America,
thousands upon thousands, keep watch by these arms, keep faith with
home and country.
HOME AND ITS FESTIVALS
HOME, SWEET HOME
John Howard Payne
'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home!
An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
Oh! give me my lonely thatched cottage again!
The birds, singing gayly, that came at my call--
Give me them--and the peace of mind dearer than all!
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home!
How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,
And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile!
Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home!
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home!
To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home!
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. John Howard Payne (1792-1852) was born in New York City.
He became an actor and also a writer of plays and operas. He died
at Tunis, Africa, to which place he had been sent as United States
consul. When Jenny Lind, the celebrated Swedish singer, visited the
United States in 1850, she sang in Washington before a large audience.
John Howard Payne sat in one of the boxes, and at the close of her
wonderful concert the singer turned toward the box in which the poet
sat, and sang "Home, Sweet Home" with so much sweetness and power that
many of the audience cried like children.
Discussion. 1. What words in the first stanza are repeated in the
refrain, or chorus? 2. What is it that the poet says "hallows," or
blesses, us when we are in our homes? 3. With what word in the second
stanza is "cottage" contrasted? 4. What does the second stanza tell us
that the poet had at home and missed afterwards? 5. What is it that
really makes home beautiful? 6. What great service do our mothers
perform? 7. What does page 84 tell you of the value the love of home
is to a nation? 8. Explain the expression "splendor dazzles in vain".
9. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: humble; hallow; charm; fond;
soothe; beguile; roam. 10. Pronounce: exile; solace.
THE GRAPEVINE SWING
SAMUEL MINTURN PECK
When I was a boy on the old plantation,
Down by the deep bayou--
The fairest spot of all creation
Under the arching blue--
When the wind came over the cotton and corn,
To the long, slim loop I'd spring
With brown feet bare, and a hat-brim torn,
And swing in the grapevine swing.
Swinging in the grapevine swing,
Laughing where the wild birds sing,
I dream and sigh
For the days gone by,
Swinging in the grapevine swing.
Out--o'er the water lilies bonny and bright
Back--to the moss-green trees;
I shouted and laughed with a heart as light
As a wild rose tossed by the breeze.
The mocking bird joined in my reckless glee;
I longed for no angel's wing;
I was just as near heaven as I wanted to be
Swinging in the grapevine swing.
Swinging in the grapevine swing,
Laughing where the wild birds sing--
Oh, to be a boy
With a heart full of joy,
Swinging in the grapevine swing!
I'm weary at noon, I'm weary at night,
I'm fretted and sore of heart,
And care is sowing my locks with white
As I wend through the fevered mart.
I'm tired of the world with its pride and pomp,
And fame seems a worthless thing.
I'd barter it all for one day's romp,
And a swing in the grapevine swing.
Swinging in the grapevine swing,
Laughing where the wild birds sing--
I would I were away
From the world today,
Swinging in the grapevine swing.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. Samuel Minturn Peck (1854-1886) is a native of the South.
He was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and spent most of his early years
in that city. He was gifted in music and became an excellent amateur
pianist. His published works include Cap and Bells, Rhymes and Roses,
and Rings and Love-Knots, from which "The Grapevine Swing," one of his
most musical poems, is taken.
Discussion. 1. Why does the poet call the old plantation "The fairest
spot of all creation"? 2. What does he mean by "the long, slim loop"?
3. For what "days gone by" does the poet sigh? 4. What picture do
lines 6, 7, and 8, page 89, give you? 5. What tells you that the swing
was near the bayou? 6. What is compared to the wild rose? 7. Why do
you think the poet would "barter it all for one day's romp"? 8. Find
in the Glossary the meaning of: creation; bonny; reckless; fretted;
wend; pomp; fame. 9. Pronounce: bayou; arching; laughing.
Phrases for Study
arching blue, care is sowing, moss-green trees, fevered mart, sore of
heart, barter it all.
LULLABY OF AN INFANT CHIEF
SIR WALTER SCOTT
O hush thee, my babie! thy sire was a knight,
Thy mother a lady, both lovely and bright;
The woods and the glens, from the towers which we see,
They are all belonging, dear babie, to thee.
O fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows;
It calls but the warders that guard thy repose;
Their bows would be bended, their blades would be red,
Ere the step of a foeman draws near to thy bed.
O hush thee, my babie! the time soon will come
When thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum;
Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may,
For strife comes with manhood, and waking with day.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born in Scotland. He was
a famous novelist and poet. When a child, he learned the Scottish
legends and ballads, and later he wove them into his writings.
Discussion. 1. What things mentioned in the first stanza show that the
baby has great possessions? 2. How would the warders protect the baby?
3. What word could be used instead of "blades"? 4. What will this baby
have to do when he becomes a man? 5. What will the trumpet and drum
mean to him then? 6. How could you tell that this baby lived a long
time ago? 7. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: sire; knight; lady;
glens; towers.
Phrases for Study
calls but the warders, sleep shall be broken, guard thy repose, strife
comes with manhood.
THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY
MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON
"And now," said the Governor, gazing abroad on the piled-up store Of
the sheaves that dotted the clearings and covered the meadows o'er,
"'Tis meet that we render praises because of this yield of grain; 'Tis
meet that the Lord of the harvest be thanked for his sun and rain.
"And, therefore, I, William Bradford (by the grace of God today, And
the franchise of this good people), Governor of Plymouth, say, Through
virtue of vested power--ye shall gather with one accord, And hold, in
the month of November, thanksgiving unto the Lord.
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